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I didn’t die!

On January 25, I ran my half marathon, and didn’t die. I gave myself tendinitis, but otherwise things went well. Looking forward to doing that again sometime.

February we took two family trips to go skiing – we went to Banff and skied at Sunshine Village (which was great) and for my birthday weekend we went to Mission Ridge, which is a little closer to home. Everyone in the family had a good time. And in spite of avalanches and snowstorms, none of us died.

And then it was March and my surgery date was upon me. The closer I got to the big day, the more nervous I got and for a few days before I was trying to talk myself out of doing the surgery at all. But my husband kept reminding me that surgery would be better than not having surgery and then finding out I had cancer, so I had to be a big girl.

Then it was March 10 – the big day. I had a 5am wake up, a shower with the weird soap they gave me and then my husband drove me to the hospital for a 6am check in, leaving my children in my auntie’s capable hands.

Actual surgery was at 7:30 but it takes an hour and a half for them to take you back to surgery. That time is spent getting you ready to go back and asking you repeatedly if you know what they plan to do. I had listened to my doctor at the preop appointment and done my research so I not only knew what the plan was, I also had a pretty good visual as far as what it would look like. Ew. I told my doctor to be careful in there and try not to kill me or anything, and then they gave me the Versed and wheeled me back to the OR. Seconds later the anaesthetic kicked in and I was out.

Surgery was uneventful, so I hear. I was out cold, so I don’t know anything other than what they told me – which is that they found all manner of problems (endometriosis, adenomyosis, Fallopian tubes adhered shut, plus the fibroids and complex hyperplasia that we already knew about), but the surgery went well and was over in about an hour and a half. No sign of cancer, thank goodness.

The next thing I remember is waking up in my room at noon feeling queasy. The nausea stuck around for a while along with some dizziness whenever they adjusted my pain meds, but by the afternoon I started feeling better. At 5 they kicked me out of bed to take a walk around the floor, then my kids came for a visit. Then I slept until morning. They released me next day as soon as I proved to the nurses that I could still pee.

So my surgery is over and I didn’t die! Since then, for the last couple of weeks I’ve been on total pelvic rest, meaning I pretty much can’t do anything that involves the pelvis or the belly. No bending, lifting, twisting or running. Honestly, this directive has not been a problem since the first week I was pretty much flat on my back, and even last week I still didn’t have much energy.

During this whole ordeal I was fortunate to have my aunt and my dad here to help me with the kids and the housework that I would normally do, so that really helped me relax and recover. For the last few days I’ve been feeling better, so I’ve done a little bit of leisurely walking. I’m pretty tired after so I know that it will be a while before I will be ready to run. It’s more important right now to rest and recover. Running will still be there when my body is ready.

Today marked the end of 2 weeks of total rest, so I am starting back with more of my usual routine (still resting a lot though and going easy). I started back at the gym with 15 minutes of walking on the treadmill with 1% incline at a 2.3 mph pace. I felt little twinges near my incision when I tried to go faster, so I just backed it off to where I didn’t have any discomfort. After the walking was over I sat down for a little to rest (I was feeling a bit sore), then I went and worked on my ankle strength using the rocker board. A little light stretching and that was it for my first workout. If I feel up to it tomorrow I’ll try to go a bit faster, do a little more, and see how I do.